1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control device and control method for a composite appliance for efficiently controlling an image input apparatus such as a scanner and an image output apparatus such as a printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has conventionally been put to practical use an image processing apparatus called a composite appliance such as a copying machine or facsimile which is equipped with a combination of an image input apparatus such as a scanner and an image output apparatus such as a printer, or a computer system which is equipped with an image input apparatus and image output apparatus as separate component units. This image processing apparatus can execute a plurality of jobs in parallel using composite units as far as the jobs do not contend with each other for a resource.
However, if a plurality of jobs are executed in parallel, the power consumption of the whole apparatus increases, and may exceed power which can be safely supplied to the apparatus. If this situation occurs, the apparatus itself may be destructed in a worst case.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation, and has as its object to maintain the power state of the whole apparatus to a proper state by controlling execution of a job in accordance with a power consumption state. To achieve the above object, the present invention comprises the following arrangement.
A control device for a composite appliance capable of executing a plurality of jobs in parallel, comprises
instruction means for instructing start of a job, and
determination means for determining whether destruction may occur due to self-heat generation,
wherein when it is determined that the destruction may occur by the determination means, the job instructed by the instruction means is not executed.
The device preferably further comprises display means for displaying an image representing that the job is in progress when the job starts by the instruction means, and erasing the image representing that the job is in progress when the job ends.
It is preferable that the device further comprise monitor means for monitoring whether power consumption exceeds a predetermined value, and the determination means determine that destruction may occur due to self-heat generation when the power consumption exceeds the predetermined value.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.